Senioritis
by Disappearing Boy
Summary: After school, Jess and Leslie finish their homework. Or at least they try to. LDD.


**Author's Note: This story has a few references to "Opposites Attract" and "The Fastest Kid in the Ninth Grade."**

* * *

Jess dropped his backpack and slumped down into his chair. "Man, I'm beat."

Leslie took her usual spot on his bed. "What subject are you going to do first?"

"History," he replied. "I already finished calculus during lunch."

"Nerd."

"Hey, what's wrong with doing homework during lunch?"

"Everything! You should be more social, Jess."

"I think you're social enough for the both of us."

"Yeah, I guess. When did you do calc, anyway? I thought we were talking the whole time."

"No, YOU were talking. I was doing the problems."

She stared at him. "... So, you didn't listen to anything I said."

"Right."

Leslie rolled her eyes. "That's not very nice of you."

"Probably not, but at least I got most of my work done. You, on the other hand, have to do it all now."

She groaned and opened her textbook. "Could you help me?"

Jess kept writing. "After I'm done with this, Leslie. Seriously, have you ever gone two days without having to ask me for help?"

"No, you're just like my personal tutor for the past four years."

"Ah, of course. Without me, you wouldn't even be graduating."

"Wow," she muttered. "Can you believe we're almost done with high school?"

He shook his head. "No. It's gone by so fast. And after all this time, it seems like we're not going to get anything out of it besides some stupid diploma."

"Well, what do you call those?" she asked, pointing to his shelf. It was covered with trophies.

Jess reached over and grabbed one from the top. "Hmm... this is from last year's states. Second place in the 100 meters. Not exactly what I was hoping for..."

"Yeah," Leslie replied. "Not like my FIRST place trophy."

"Shut up," he laughed. "I can't believe I never won it all."

"You lost by like half a second, right?"

"Ugh," he grimaced. "I'm still faster than you, though."

"Yes, but I'm a girl. Haven't you noticed?"

"Kind of."

"Besides, you weren't always faster. Remember the first time we raced? You were so mad after I beat you that you wouldn't even speak to me afterwards."

Jess rolled his eyes. "Great memories, Leslie. Now do you mind if I get started on my work?"

"Fine, whatever."

The two teens started their homework in silence.

A few minutes later, Jess groaned aloud. "Dammit."

"What?"

"This paper," he said. "I'm reading it over, and it sounds like crap."

Leslie got up and looked at his notebook. "Well, no wonder - you don't even have a thesis statement to organize your argument. You should split the essay into separate paragraphs, and you also need to vary your sentence structure. Seriously Jess, when's the last time you even used a comma?"

He shrugged. "Not sure. Could you revise this for me?"

Leslie glared at him.

"Please?"

"All riiight," she gave in.

"Thanks."

"And I don't even take this class..."

"Well, I did the research. I just can't write, that's all."

"When's it due?"

"Two days."

"Great. You owe me big for this one," she said, stuffing the paper into her backpack.

"Deal."

"Um, so could you help me with calc?"

"OK. What problem?"

"Number three."

Jess scoffed. "That's like the easiest one, Leslie."

She smiled sheepishly. "Well, I forget how to do it."

"Well, do you remember how to take derivatives?" She shook her head. "OK. First, you take the exponent and multiply it by the coefficient to get the new coefficient. Then reduce the exponent by 1. So, the derivative of 3x2+10x is 6x+10."

"Right," she said, jotting down the answer.

"How are you even passing this class?"

"I don't know. Who cares, anyway? We're seniors. Nobody cares about school when they're seniors, especially at the end of the year."

"That's true," he replied. "Everyone's just concerned with getting into college, planning their summer vacations..."

"... asking people to the prom..."

Jess laughed. "Well, no one's asked me."

"Oh." Leslie paused. "I've been asked."

Jess' jaw dropped open. "What?"

She shrugged. "Gary Fulcher asked me last week."

He jumped out of his chair. "Fulcher?! Are you kidding?!"

Leslie shook her head, trying not to laugh.

"Well, what did you say?"

"I said no, of course!"

Jess breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah, good."

"Come on. What did you think I would say?"

"I don't know, just making sure..."

"He's a freak, Jess."

"Damn right he is. Used to beat me up when we were kids."

"Yeah, I remember. Why'd he stop picking on you, anyways?"

"Well, I grew taller. After that, I kind of, maybe, straightened him out a little."

Leslie laughed. "OK, Mr. Tough Guy," she said, "let's see those big muscles of yours, then."

Jess rolled up his sleeve and flexed his bicep.

"Nice." She grinned. "I'm glad you don't show this to anyone else; with those muscles, you could make a girl believe anything."

He blushed. "Er, what...?" But Leslie just snickered. Well, two could play at that game. "You... you don't look half bad yourself."

"Not half bad, eh?"

"Sure. Why else do you think Fulcher would ask you to the dance?"

"Probably because I have boobs, and he has low standards."

"True and true. Glad you figured that out by yourself."

Leslie stuck her nose in the air. "Well, I am a very independent young woman," she huffed.

"OK, then why do you hang out with me?"

"So you can do my homework. Why else?"

"I knew it!" Jess slapped his forehead in mock exasperation. "You've just been using me!"

She nodded. "Yep."

"So Miss Burke... if you're not going to the prom with Fulcher, then who ARE you going with?"

"Well, Mr. Aarons, I was actually going to hang out with my boyfriend that day."

"And where are you going to be hanging out, might I ask?"

"Place called Terabithia."

"That sounds cool."

"Yeah, I plan on keeping him there all day long... and probably all night, too."

Jess smirked. "Lucky bastard. What WILL you guys be doing all that time?"

"Uh, things."

"What kind of things?"

"Very inappropriate things."

Jess raised his eyebrows.

"Actually," she continued, "it's hard to explain it in words. Perhaps it would be better if I... showed you." She lay back on the bed and quickly pulled Jess down next to her.

"Well, this is a nice surprise," he remarked. "But what about calc?"

"Just let me copy off you tomorrow morning."

"Oh... all right," he sighed.

Leslie grinned. "Thanks." And she leaned over and pressed her lips to his.

*

fin


End file.
